Beverage comprising an effective amount of flavanols as sweetness cutting composition

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to substantially alcohol free beverages having a sweetener system which ensures the full perception of the flavour system within the beverage while at the same time containing flavanols as a sweetness cutting material which reduces the sweetness impression of the sweetener system. In particular the present invention relates to beverages which are considered most appealing to an adult taste, having a full flavour impression while being considered less sweet than conventional beverages usually designed for children,

This is a National Stage filing of PCT/US98/25443 filed Dec. 1, 1998.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to substantially alcohol free beverageshaving a sweetener system which ensures the full perception of theflavour system within the beverage while at the same time comprisingflavanols as a sweetness cutting material which reduces the sweetnessimpression of the sweetener system. In particular the present inventionrelates to beverages which are considered most appealing to an adulttaste, having a full flavour impression while being considered lesssweet than conventional beverages usually designed for children, whoprefer a stronger sweetness impression.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well-known in the art that in order to provide a beverage with awell rounded and full bodied flavour it is necessary to provide asweetening system containing natural and/or artificial sweeteningcomponents such as sugar and high intensity sweetening compounds such assaccharin, acesulfam K, cyclamate, or aspartame (known under the tradename Nutra-Sweet). On the other hand it is known that in particularadult consumers of beverages have a desire for a less sweet beveragecomposition.

In order to provide in particular adult consumers with a less sweettasting beverage several well-known alternatives are available. Theaddition of a bitter tasting ingredient such as chinin or grapefruitflavours have been tried in tonics and citrus beverages (also alcoholfree beer could be considered in this context). However, many consumersdo not find a bitter note appealing, in particular since it usually isnot adequate to overcome the sweetness perception in such beverages astonic water, bitter lemon or grapefruit juice comprising beverages. Evenso these beverages comprise a bitter tasting compound they are stillrated as too sweet mostly by adult consumers.

An alternative conventionally used is to increase the amount of acids ina beverage in order to change the sweetness impression of the sweeteningcomposition comprised in the beverage. However, this has limitations inthat too much added acids in beverages are not appealing to manyconsumers and some actually complain about heartburn caused by a toohigh acidity.

A third apparent alternative is the reduction of the sweeteningcomposition amount in order to reduce the sweetness impression of abeverage. However, this (as indicated above) causes a reduction of theflavour impression of such a beverage composition and therefore causes alack of appealing flavour to consumers of such beverages. At the sametime a reduction of the sweetening compounds covers a consistency/mouthfeel change which often is described as “watery” further enhancing theimpression that such a beverage has less flavour.

One possibility widely used in beverage compositions, however fordifferent reasons (such as a preservation effect or as an acidifier), isto provide the beverage with a sparkling CO₂ content. This does have areducing effect on the sweetness impression of such compositions. At thesame time the addition of CO₂ to beverage compositions reduces all tasteimpressions in line with the reduction of the sweetness impression. Thereason for this is believed to be caused by the reduced amount of liquidactually contacting taste corpuscles on the sensoric sensitive areas ofthe mouth when drinking such compositions. Based on this CO₂ is addedusually to beverages for it's refreshing effect and as part of thepreservative system in beverages.

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention have investigatedwhether the addition of certain compounds would not provide a solutionto the problems associated with conventional attempts to reduce thesweetness impression of alcohol free beverages. It now has been foundthat indeed the addition of certain well-known compounds causes areduction in the sweetness impression of a beverage composition. Theaddition of such sweetness cutting compounds is, however, alsoassociated with a detrimental flavour effect on the beveragecompositions and hence has conventionally not been used in order toprovide a sweetness cutting effect but for other reasons.

It is therefore an objective of the present invention to providebeverage compositions without reducing the sweetening compositioncontained in such beverages compositions but with a sweetness impressionwhich is lower than would usually be expected from the sweetenercomposition comprised in the beverage. It is another objective of thepresent invention to maintain the flavour impression of a beveragecomposition while reducing the sweetness impression without raising theacidity level and without introducing an objectionable bitter note, orastringency to the beverage composition.

It is a further objective of the present invention to define the amountof sweetness cutting compounds to be added to a beverage composition independence on the beverage composition as such, i.e. without thesweetness cutting compounds, so as to prevent the generation of aflavour impression substantially different from the original beveragecomposition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to beverage compositions having a reducedsweetness impression and comprising optionally a CO₂ content of up to 10times the volume of the liquid, a sweetening composition which maycomprise natural or artificial sweetening compounds or combinationsthereof including in particular high intensity sweeteners such assaccharin, acesulfam K, cyclamate, aspartame or fruit juice or fruitjuice concentrate from fruit like those belonging to the Cucurbitaceaefamily, preferably Luo Han Guo fruit. The sweetening composition isincluded to provide a sweetening strength measured by the sweetnessimpression on an attribute grading test of a rating of at least 4 pointsin the attribute grading test (the test details and definitions aregiven below) when the sweetening composition is dissolved in water whichhas the same CO₂ content as desired for the final beverage. In the sametest the bitterness impression is measured.

The beverage further comprises flavanols as a sweetness cuttingcomposition in an amount of 60-150 ppm, preferably 70-120 ppm, morepreferably 80-100 ppm by weight. In a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention the beverage composition further comprises onecompound or a combination of compounds selected from triple sec flavour;vermouth flavour; mint flavour or combinations thereof.

The sweetening composition preferably contains compounds selected fromthe group of sugars such as saccharose, glucose, fructose, lactose,maltose, sorbit, dextrose, sorbose, xylit, lactit, maltit, isomaltit, orhigh intensity sweeteners such as saccharin, cyclamat, aspartam,acesulfam K, thaumatin, glycin or combinations thereof. The sweetnesscutting composition according to the present invention can furthercontain compounds selected from the group of polyphenols of a molecularweight ranging from 500 to 3000, preferably ranging from 850 to 2800,such as tannins or tannic acids (e.g. obtainable from wood extractions,particularly from oak chips), gymnemic acid and its salts such astriterpene saponin, glycorides such as ziziphin or hodulcin, compoundssuch as 2 (4-methoxyphenoxy)-propanic-acids and -salts or -esters orcombinations thereof.

Since the addition of CO₂ effectively reduces all flavour impressions ofa composition it is not necessary or desirable to include CO₂ in thebeverage compositions of the present invention for its sweetnessimpression reducing effect. However, CO₂ is considered by many consumersto provide or raise the refreshing and stimulating effect of a beverage.Hence the inclusion of CO₂ is desirable in the context of the presentinvention. The amount of CO₂ to be added in beverages preferably is inthe range from 2 to 4 times the volume of the beverage, even morepreferably in the range from 2.5 to 3.5 by volume.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions

As used herein the term “beverage” refers to a beverage compositionwhich is in a single-strength, ready-to serve, drinkable form. Beveragesof the present invention typically comprise at least 80% water.Beverages include both carbonated and noncarbonated forms.

As used herein, the term “beverage concentrate” refers to a beveragecomposition in liquid form usable to prepare a single strength beverage.

Beverage concentrates within the scope of the present inventiontypically comprise from 30% to 70%, preferably from 40% to 60%, water.They are usually formulated to provide, drinkable beverages when dilutedwith 2 to 5 parts by weight water.

As used herein mineral amounts are referred to as the supplementedamounts. Naturally contained minerals are not included when referring tomineral amounts.

As used herein the term single strength refers to the ready-to-serveconcentration of beverage compounds.

As used herein the term “fruit juice” refers to citrus juices, such asorange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice, tangerine juiceand mixtures thereof. Non citrus juices such as apple juice, grapejuice, pear juice, cherry juice, berry juice, pineapple juice, kiwijuice, cashew juice, peach juice, apricot juice, plum juice, prunejuice, passion fruit juice, banana juice, melon juice, cranberry juice,acerola juice, litschi juice, karambola juice, mango juice, sharon fruitjuice, cherry moya juice, lulo juice, physalis juice, and mixtures ofthese juices, as well as mixtures of citrus and non-citrus juices. Allamounts of fruit juice referred to herein are on the basis of 100% fruitjuice in its single strength concentration.

As used herein, the term “comprising” means various components can beconjointly employed in a beverage and beverage concentrate of thepresent invention. Accordingly the term “comprising” encompasses themore restrictive term “consisting of”.

As used herein percentages are given as percent by weight of thebeverage in its single strength dilution unless indicated otherwise.Percentages of water include the amount of water inherent in fruitjuices.

Essential Compounds in the Beverage

According to the present invention beverage formulations are claimedcomprising a sweetening composition and flavanols as a sweetness cuttingcomposition to reduce the sweetness impression of the sweeteningcomposition. Hence the required compounds in the beverage compositionaccording to the present invention are the sweetening composition andthe flavanols. However, it is desirable, and for any commercialsuccessful beverage mandatory, to also comprise some or all of theoptional compounds indicated below. They are therefore optional inrespect to the technical development according to the present inventionbut commercially of high significance.

The sweetening composition according to the present invention consistsof all compounds which provide sweetness in a beverage composition.Hence natural or artificial compounds which are considered to providesweetness to a beverage composition are included in the sweeteningcomposition according to the present invention. Also sweeteningcompounds which are included with other compounds, intentionallyselected for other purposes such as for example flavour compositions orfruit juice compositions, are part of the sweetening compositionaccording to the present invention.

Sweetening compositions typically comprise sugars such as saccharose,glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, sorbit, dextrose, sorbose, xylit,lactit, maltit, isomaltit, or high intensity sweeteners such assaccharin, cyclamat, aspartam, acesulfam K, thaumatin, glycin. Alsonatural compounds known for their intense sweetness, so called naturalhigh intensity sweeteners such as fruit juice or fruit juice concentratefrom miracle fruit (synsepalum dulcificum of the family sapotaceae),from fruit of the Cucurbitaceae family, preferably Luo Han Guo fruit(Siraitia grosvenorii of the family Curcurbitaceae), serendipity berry(dioscoreophyllum cuminsii) or others are considered compounds which ifpresent in a beverage composition form part of the sweeteningcomposition of the beverage.

By “fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate of the fruit of theCucurbitaceae family” it is understood puree or serum or juice from anyfruit from the plant of the family Cucurbitaceae , tribe Jollifieae,subtribe Thladianthinae, genus Siraitia. Especially preferred are thegenus/species S. grosvenorii, S. siamensis, S. silomaradiae, S.sikkimensis, S. africana, S. borneensis, and S. taiwaniana. The mostpreferred fruit is the genus /species S. grosvenorii, which is oftencalled Luo Han Guo fruit. Although particular reference is made to LuoHan Guo juice or concentrated juice, other juices of the Cucurbitaceaefamily which contain at least 0.01% sweet triterpene glycosides ormogrosides are useful in this invention. Preferably the juices willcontain more than 0.01% to about 20% mogrosides, preferably mogroside V,mogroside IV, siamenoside and mixtures thereof.

Chemically mogrosides are triterpene glycosides which are more fullydescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,010. In particular mogroside IV,mogroside V and siamenoside I have a low calorie content and a sweetnesswhich is said to be from about 300 to 500 times that of sugar. They aretherefore especially useful as a sugar replacement or sweeteningcompound for beverages. The characteristics and chemical structuralformula of mogroside IV, mogroside V siamenoside I have been describedby Matsumoto et al. Chemical-Pharmaceutical-Bulletin 38 (7), page2030-2032, 1990 and R. Kasai et al. Agri. Biol. Chem. 53, (12) page3347-3349, 1989.

Reference is made to WO 94/18854 for a typical process of preparingjuice from fruit of the Cucurbitaceae family.

The amount of the sweetening composition, regardless how it isconstituted in terms of its individual ingredients is such that in anattribute grading test the sweetening composition dissolved in water,which also comprises the same CO₂ content as desired for the beveragecomposition, provides the sweetening-in-water-solution with a sweetnessimpression of at least 4 rating points according to the attributegrading test as defined below. The reason for this minimum sweetnessimpression by the sweetening composition is that sweetening compositionshaving a sweetness impression below 4 rating points tend to be notconsidered sweet in the first place and reduction of their sweetnessimpression is not relevant to the acceptability of such beverages.

In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention thesweetness impression provided by the sweetening composition comprised inthe present invention is at least such that it results in a rating of 6rating points in an attribute grading test as defined below whenanalysing the sweetening composition in a water solution comprising thesame CO₂ content as desired for the final beverage composition.

The other compound comprised in the beverages according to the presentinvention are flavanols. The flavanols can comprise natural orartificial flavanols which provide a reduction in the sweetnessimpression of beverage compositions. Preferably the flavanols arederived from or provided as green tea compounds. It preferably furthercomprises those compounds of sweetness cutting compositions as indicatedabove.

The amount of the flavanols is selected so as to provide a solution inwater of the sweetening composition at a CO₂ content identical to thatof the beverage composition with a sweetness impression which is atleast 0.5 rating points, preferably from 0.8 to 2 rating points, lowerthan the sweetness impression of the same solution without the sweetnesscutting composition in the attribute grading test defined below.

It is also important that the flavanols and other sweetness cuttingcompounds do not cause the overall composition to develop undesirableflavours. in particular bitter flavours and astringency have been foundto be quite unacceptable in the context of green teas for beverages.Therefore, when using green tea to provide the flavanols an upper limitof the sweetness cutting effect is desirable while as an alternative thegeneration of a bitter taste impression can also be used as a check markto adjust the amount of sweetness cutting composition included in thebeverage composition. In particular if green tea is added in an amountwhich causes the composition of water, sweetening composition andsweetness cutting composition to develop an increase in the overallbitter taste of more than 2 points on the attribute grading scale such aquantity of sweetness cutting composition would not be desirableanymore.

Optional Compounds in the Beverage

Beverages contemplated in the context of the present invention cancomprise a flavour composition which comprises a flavour selected fromfruit flavours, botanical flavours, artificial flavours and mixturesthereof.

As used herein, the term “fruit flavour” refers to those flavour derivedfrom the reproductive part of a seed plant, especially one having asweet pulp associated with the seed. Also included but less preferredwithin the term “fruit flavour” are synthetically prepared flavours madeto simulate fruit flavours derived from natural sources. Particularlypreferred fruit flavours are the citrus flavours including orangeflavours, lemon flavours, a variety of other fruit flavours can be usedsuch as apple flavours, grape flavours, cherry flavours, pineappleflavours and the like. These fruit flavours can be derived from naturalsources such as fruit juices as defined above and flavour oils, or elsesynthetically prepared.

As used herein, the term “artificial flavour” refers to flavours whichcannot be derived from natural sources. Artificial flavours are inparticular those flavours chemically generated or biologicallyengineered which provide a flavour impression outside the range of thosenaturally available. Artificial flavours are not those flavours whichare synthetically prepared but chemically identical to natural flavours(i.e. fruit flavours or botanical flavours) which are considered asnatural flavours synthetically prepared.

As used herein, the term “botanical flavour” refers to flavours derivedfrom parts of a plant other than the fruit. As such, botanical flavourscan include those flavours from nuts, bark, roots and leaves, includingtea leaves. Also included within the term “botanical flavour” aresynthetically prepared flavours made to simulate botanical flavoursderived from natural sources. Examples of such flavours include colaflavours, tea flavours and the like. These botanical flavours can bederived from natural sources such as essential oils and extracts, orelse can be synthetically prepared.

The flavour component can comprise a blend of various flavours e.g.lemon and lime flavours, cola flavours with citrus flavours to form colaflavours etc. If desired, fruit juices or their concentrates such asorange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, apple juice, grape juice and thelike can be used in the flavour composition.

The flavour in the flavour composition is sometimes formed into emulsiondroplets which are then dispersed in the final beverage. Because thesedroplets usually have a specific gravity less than that of water andwould therefore form a separate phase in the final beverage, weightingagents (which can also act as clouding agents) are typically used tokeep the emulsion droplets dispersed in the beverage. Examples of suchweighting agents are brominated vegetable oils and resin esters, inparticular the ester gums. See L. F. Green, Developments in Soft DrinksTechnology, Vol. 1 (Applied Science Publishers Ltd. 1978) pp. 87-93 fora further description of the use of weighting and clouding agents inliquid beverages. Besides weighting agents, emulsifiers and emulsionstabilisers can be used to stabilise the emulsion droplets. Examples ofsuch emulsifiers and emulsion stabilisers include the gums, pectins,celluloses, polysorbates, sorbitan esters and propylene glycolalginates. See L. F. Green, supra at p. 92.

The particular amount of the flavour composition effective for impartingflavour characteristics to a beverage can depend upon the flavour(s)selected, the flavour impression desired, and the form of the flavourcomposition. For flavour compositions which are substantially free offruit juice (i.e. on a single strength basis comprising no more thanabout 1% fruit juice by weight of the beverage) the flavour compositioncan be comprised in the beverage at an amount of at least 0.001% byweight of the beverage and typically from 0.05% to 1% by weight of thebeverage. If fruit juice or concentrates thereof are part of the flavourcomposition up to twice these amounts can be used.

Beverages contemplated according to the present invention may also becarbonated. Usually a beverage will be considered to be carbonated if itcomprises more than 0.3, preferably more than 1 times the volume of thebeverage of solubilized carbon dioxide. Carbonated beverages comprisecarbondioxide typically from 1 to 4.5, preferably from 2 to 3.5 timesthe volume of the beverage.

The carbonated beverage can be placed in a container such as a bottle ora can which is then sealed. See L. F. Green, Developments in Soft DrinksTechnology, Vol. 1 (Applied Science Publishers Ltd. 1978), pp. 102-107,for a further description of beverage making in particular the processfor carbonation.

Another compound in a beverage composition considered in the context ofthe present invention are fruit juice compounds or itsconcentrate/puree. The juice compound according to the present inventionis selected from one of the fruit juice compounds indicated above.

The amount of addition of juice concentrate to beverages preferably isin the range from as low as 0.5%, up to 60%, preferably from 1% to 30%,by weight on a single strength basis. In these amounts the fruit juicecontent in the beverage composition will provide a certain sweetenereffect due to its sugar content. This sugar content is part of thesweetener composition of the beverage.

Optionally the beverages can comprise edible acids which includephosphoric acid, fumaric acid, adipic acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid,gluconic acid, succinic acid, malic acid, citric acid or theirrespective sour salts. Also optionally the beverages can comprisesupplemented solubilized minerals which include iron, calcium,magnesium, potassium, sodium, as well as supplemented vitamins.Supplemented minerals or vitamins should be included in a quantity of15%, preferably 30%, of the Recommended Daily Intake in 100 ml beverageproduct according to the European Council Directive No. 90/496/EEC ofSeptember 24, 1990 on nutritional labeling for foodstuff.

Attribute Grading Test

Attribute grading tests have conventionally been used in the foods andbeverage industry to assess the perception of certain aspects of a foodor beverage by an educated rating panel. The attributes which are ratedfor the purpose of the present invention are sweetness, bitterness andpossibly astringency.

Due to the wide use of attribute grading tests in the food and beverageindustry a standard test set-up has been established under ISO 6564-1985(E), “Sensory Analysis—Methodology—Flavour profile methods”. This ISOtest allows a wide variety of test set-ups depending on the particularpurpose of the test.

According to the present invention this test norm was used with thefollowing specific settings. Together with these settings the test isreferred to in the claims as the modified Attribute Grading test ormAG-test.

The particular test settings are:

only trained experts are included as assessors in the sensory test;

only the independent test method is used;

the selected character notes for each test are sweet, bitter, thickliquid, caramelized, refreshing, astringent (in this order ofperception);

the intensity for selected character notes is rated on a line scale of17 cm and is directly transferred into numerical values between 0 and9.9. A value of 0 in this respect refers to a character note not beingpresent while 9.9 is equivalent to an assessment of an extremelynoticeable note.

The resulting data are reported in tabular form with numerical values.

The preparation of the taste samples is such that they are chilled to12° C. and 100 ml per sample are presented for evaluation.

In the test the assessor first evaluate a reference composition for theabove character notes and then evaluate the test sample versus thereference. All other conditions of the test are identical to those givenin ISO 6564-1985 (E).

TEST RESULTS Test Compositions

A: water sucrose solution with 8% sucrose B: same as A with a green teasweetness cutting compound providing a calculated flavanol level of 124ppm. C: a sweetening composition solubilized in water comprising 4%sugar plus high intensity sweeteners to achieve approximately the samesweetness as a 8% sucrose in water solution. D: same as C with a greentea sweetness cutting compound providing a calculated flavanol level of124 ppm. E: same as C with CO₂ in a quantity of 2 times the volume ofthe composition. F: same as D with CO₂ in a quantity of 2 times thevolume of the composition. G: same as A with 3.52 mg/l of quinine HCl(standard amount in bitter lemon or tonic beverages).

Test Ratings (Average Numerical Value)

A B C D E F sweet 7.2 6.2 6.5 5.6 5.8 5.0 bitter 0.3 1.4 1.3 2.1 2.4 2.7astringent 0   2.0 0.5 2.2 1.6 2.8 A G sweet 7.0 6.3 bitter 0.5 4.4astringent 0.5 2.3

According to the test ratings shown above the addition of flavanols fromgreen tea does result in the desired sweetness cutting effect whencomparing compositions A and B while raising bitter and astringentimpression within an acceptable level. This is also found when replacingthe succrose sweetening solution by a sugar plus high intensitysweetening composition. The result is further confirmed in the contextof a carbonized system when comparing compositions E and F. In contrastusual sweetness cutting composition such as those used in bitter lemonor tonic beverages result in an unacceptable bitter note while not evenproviding the same sweetness cutting performance as composition B.

We claim:
 1. Beverage composition of reduced sweetness impression, saidbeverage composition comprising: a CO₂ content of from 0 to 10 times thevolume of said beverage composition; a sweetening composition comprisingone or more natural or artificial sweetening compounds or combinationsthereof, said sweetening composition providing a sweetness impressionvalue in a water solution at the same CO₂ content as comprised in saidbeverage, wherein said sweetness impression is at least 4 rating pointsaccording to a modified attribute grading test (mAG-test); a sweetnesscutting composition comprising one or more natural or artificialcompounds; wherein said sweetness cutting composition comprises from 60to 150 ppm by weight flavanols, and wherein the flavanols are selectedfrom the group consisting of green tea, green tea derivatives, gymnemicacid and salts thereof, glycorides, (4-methoxyphenoxy)-propanic acidsand salts thereof, and mixtures thereof.
 2. Beverage compositionaccording to claim 1 wherein said sweetness cutting compositioncomprises one or more botanical flavour compounds.
 3. Beveragecomposition according to claim 2 wherein said sweetness cuttingcomposition comprises from 70 to 120 ppm by weight flavanols. 4.Beverage composition according to claim 3 wherein said sweetness cuttingcomposition comprises from 80 to 100 ppm by weight flavanols. 5.Beverage composition according to claim 1 further comprising at leastone compound selected from the group consisting of triple sec flavour,vermouth flavour, mint flavour, and combinations thereof.
 6. Beveragecomposition according to claim 1 wherein said sweetening compositioncomprises one or more compounds selected from the group consisting ofsaccharose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, sorbit, dextrose,sorbose, xylit, lactit, maltit, isomaltit, saccharin, cyclamat,aspartame, acesulfam K, thaumatin, glycin, fruit juice or juiceconcentrate from miracle fruit, fruit juice or juice concentrate fromCucurbitaceae fruit, fruit juice or juice concentrate from serendipityberry, and combinations thereof.
 7. Beverage composition according toclaim 6 wherein said CO₂ content is from 2 to 4 times the volume of thebeverage composition.
 8. A beverage composition according to claim 1wherein the sweetness cutting composition is provided in an amount thatwill reduce the sweetness impression of said sweetening composition in awater solution at the same CO₂ content as comprised in said beverage byat least 0.5 rating points according to said mAG-test without raisingsaid bitterness impression by more than 2 rating points according tosaid mAG-test.